Make sure there is at least 4 mil wear layer, hardwood ply - no soft wood, and multiple coats of finishes.

Most of our clients in Boston area will use unfinished engineered flooring and do a site finish with Aquachoice Ceramicstar or Bona traffic HD finishing system.

Engineered | Martisan The specs include a 4mm hardwood layer of European Oak in natural and premium grades. The core is Eucalyptus like DuChateau and Hakwood. Finish is UV lacquer matte. You can test scratch resistance with the tines of a fork. This should be a good product made in SE Asia. Ask for the country of origin. Borrow a box to lay out in your space to see the color and tone variation in your light

With any wood floor, solid or engineered, you want to control the humidity range in the house. Use A/C and a dehumudifier in the summer and a humidifier in the winter.

No floor is 100% waterproof. Most people aren't leaving puddles of water all over their kitchens, so they have no issues with solid or engineered wood floors.

I've had solid wood floors throughout my 3 previous houses and engineered throughout the house we built 3.5 years ago in FL. Overall the engineered wood floor is performing better than the solid wood floors, specially with the 3 dogs.

Solid is gone from the market because a 3.5" plank doesn't show off the wood structure as much as a 7 or 10" plank. Plus, European Oak doesn't have the open grain or yellow/orange cast of standard N.A. Oak which had to be rift cut to remedy the grain problem.

@G & S Floor Service

Thanks! Good to know unfinished with a proper finish is common around Boston. We'll ask about that 4 mil wear layer too!

@dan1888 We'll try the scratch test and check the origin.

@chispa Thanks for your sharing!

@G & S Floor Service Quick question—have you heard of Martisanfloors around Boston? Curious if their stuff is decent, we’re just starting to pick colors.

We’ve been using Martisan floors for a few years now and they’ve held up really well—great quality. I think you’d be fine doing it throughout the house. I’d still stick with tile for the bathroom though, just to be safe!

@Echo This is so beautiful! Which one is it?

No, I have not heard of Martisan floor. I am also, not a prefinished floor guy. It makes up for less than 5% of the projects i we do in the area. Majority of our projects are site finished floors.

Thank you for choosing our flooring! It's perfectly fine to use it in the kitchen. However, if you're installing it in a basement, we recommend going with SPC flooring instead.